Weigh-in Wednesday #13

So, no more Times Colonist Heath Challenge...and where does that leave me?  Well, I'm sitting here blogging in the lobby of the Crystal Pool & Fitness Centre, so that should tell you something.  

After training hard for 3 months, it was time for a bit of a break...April 14th to the 21st was my "Active Rest" period.  What does that mean?  Exactly what it sounds like it means...active rest gives your body a break, it lets your joints recover from all the stress they've been under.  I worked out once a weekday (rather than 2 or 3 times) and only did light cardio...walking not running, elliptical not stairs, that sort of thing.

On Wednesday, I was expecting to stay the same and not lose too much as I'd gone pretty easy on the weekend and the beginning of the week.  When I stepped on the scale and saw 241.7, I was not surprised.

Starting weight:  292.1
1st weigh-in:  286.8
2nd weigh-in:  280.1
3rd weigh-in:  276.4
4th weigh-in:  274.1
5th weigh-in:  270.6
6th weigh-in:  266.2
7th weigh-in:  262
8th weigh-in:  261.4
9th weigh-in:  257.7
10th weigh-in 251.4

11th weigh-in 247.3

12th weigh-in 243.6

13th weigh-in 241.7

Now, let me just say that I did weigh-in officially the previous Thursday at PISE and saw even lower numbers, but I believe them to be false as it was a day after my real weigh-in day...and I purposefully dehydrated myself and skipped breakfast to get a super low number to go out with a bang.  Haha...so 241.7, I'll take it...that's 1.9 less than last week and brings me to a total of 50.4 pounds lost.  Not too shabby.

Now, let's see how my body deals with active rest plus a weekend away on Pender Island. 

TC Health Challenge Finale - is it the end of an era? Not on your life!

Sunday, April 14th, 2013 - The TC Health Challenge Finale - As participants, the finale was our opportunity to show off all of our hard work...and get our pictures taken for the paper.  Apparently they didn't choose the deconstructed doll pose I first tried out...if I hunch my shoulders bring my elbows out and put my hands forwards on my ribcage and lift from the crown of my head and tilt it slightly to the right and then affect a doe-eyed, soft lipped vacant expression...you can almost see my clavicles.  But they didn't use that one.  It was much less high fashion, and much more friendly newspaper picture, decisively more local paper.

 

Before Sunday, Sandra McCulloch send out a request for information on our experience with the challenge.  Here's how I responded:

 

The TC Health Challenge has literally been life changing for me!

 

I knew when I first started that it wouldn’t just be a 3 month challenge, it would be a 3 month introduction to a healthy new lifestyle…a crash course of sorts in nutrition and fitness…and also, it would be my “job.”  When I first sat down to set weight loss goals with the ninja, my trainer Jonathan Carpenter, I suggested a reasonable 24 pounds…but he decided to double down and up the ante to 50 big ones.  I took a risk and agreed to it.  And, I am thrilled that I did…because here I am 3 months later 52.4 pounds lighter and 39.9 centimetres smaller.  Ninja is good, ninja is wise…I was just looking forward to wearing jeans instead of yoga pants.

 

It’s not all about weight loss though, I have met so many amazing people along the way…not only the people in the challenge, the TCers, the gang at the Crystal Pool & Fitness Centre, mental coach ChristieGialloreto, my dietician Heather Dueck, and the ninja, of course…but the people in the grocery store who stopped to tell me they were going to go for a bike ride, the guy in the car who honked and shouted, “Keep up the good work,” the gal on the treadmill next to me who’s always up for a quick check in,  the dog walkers on the beach who waved me over and asked me loads of questions about the TC Health Challenge.  It’s everyone who read my blog and then put down the TV remote and went for a walk, or intended to buy cheesies but opted for an apple instead, or tagged me in some sort of inappropriate ecard regarding fitness & healthy eating…it’s all those people who became an extended support system for me.  They may not know it, but they kept me going…and will continue to keep me going.

 

Me and the ninja @ PISE.

Energy.  Well, I have a lot of it now…possibly too much of it.  I suffer from bouts of endorphin induced slap happiness, hyper activity, and extreme optimism.  I feel like I do everything faster, longer, and with more spirit now.  Stamina.  Those stairs I conquered in the first month…I run them now, and I walk all over the place instead of relying car rides or the bus.  I live so close to town, it’s nothing to just trot across the bridge.   Strength.  I do feel stronger, and I know I’m not a hard body yet but I have earned a few “lines.”  And, don’t think for a second that I haven’t stood in front of the bathroom mirror flexing and admiring my muscle definition.         

Radical change is often hard for everyone to accept…but my family and friends have been incredibly understanding and adaptable when it comes to my complete obsession with clean eating.  They have changed proposed meals at their houses, included exercise into our rendezvous, and some of them have even benefited from lifestyle change…my husband, Stéphane, has lost 24 pounds (he’s got even better legs now and he’s lost most of the beer gut).  The changes seem to have stuck, I don’t think I’ll ever get over eating 6 meals a day though.

 

What a crazy journey this has been…and will continue to be!  I’m excited for the future.

 

Thanks so much to the TC for this enormous opportunity!

 

So there you go.  

 

FIN.  

 

But not really...I'm gonna keep going.

 

April 14th - 21st was my "active rest" period, where I only worked out once a weekday for an hour....that was the active part.  My diet remained the same...I even managed to survive a breakfast buffet at a super fancy pantsy place, but I'll save that story for another post.

Times Colonist Health Challenge: Meet Steve!

Steven Holub shakes off sedentary life and fast food

Sandra McCulloch / Times Colonist
February 27, 2013

Steve Holub, who is participating in the Times Colonist Health Challenge, works out at Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence in Saanich.  Photograph by: ADRIAN LAM, Times Colonist

The Times Colonist Health Challenge is giving Steven Holub a much-needed boost.

Coming into the challenge he weighed 244 pounds, the excess bulk a result of a sedentary lifestyle and too much fast food.

The friends he hung around with in high school found partners and some are starting families.

Holub, 26, didn’t make an effort to find new friends. He currently lives with his parents and is unemployed.

He has overcome the confidence issues that haunted him over the first week or two of workouts. This week, Holub was looking every bit the serious athlete as he lifted weights at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on Interurban Road in Saanich.

Sweat poured off his forehead as he breathed in rhythm with the exertion.

He said afterward that the workout “was easier than last week but it’s still challenging. I really like it.”

He’s feeling a variety of benefits from the workouts after just a few weeks.

Holub said he has more energy, his confidence has improved and he’s eating better. He’s even looking forward to getting involved in other activities he once enjoyed, such as basketball.

This positive outlook has Holub grinning. And the fact he’s lost six pounds in just a few weeks is icing on the cake.

Having a personal trainer like Lindsay Forget on hand seems to be just what Holub needed to get moving down the right path.

“I think just having someone watching makes you want to work out harder,” Holub said.

Forget is also able to correct his form and keep track of his progress. It’s great having someone in your corner, he said.

Holub was born in Regina and adopted as an infant by a couple from Victoria. He has reconnected with his biological father, even lived with him for a while, and is in touch with his father’s other children.

Being adopted can raise issues of rejection. Holub said his birth father was able to answer some of the lingering questions. He hasn’t been able to get in touch with his birth mother yet.

One day, Holub said, he hopes to understand why she decided to place him for adoption. He said he is very grateful to have been chosen by a loving couple who raised him in Victoria, calling his parents “wonderful.” Being able to live at home while he sorts out his employment options “is a big blessing,” he said.

He hopes in April to move out and share a place with a friend. He’s looking at getting trained in janitorial work, just to get a paycheque to pay for his new passion: personal training at PISE.

“I’m really excited and looking forward to continuing with workouts after I’ve seen the results every week, and the way I’m feeling mentally and physically,” Holub said. “I’ve always wanted to get in shape but I wasn’t able to do it on my own. I didn’t have the maturity to really be dedicated to it as I am now.”

He’s now eager to shoot a few hoops on days he’s not working out, and maybe make new friends.

“Now I actually want to hang out with people and not be isolated,” he said.

The boost of endorphins that follows a tough workout is an awesome feeling, he added: “It’s like being high, but it’s natural.”

The Times Colonist Health Challenge is a 12-week fitness program where Holub and five others take part in twice-weekly workouts with personal trainers, advice from nutritionists, financial advisers and mental coaches.

The challenge wraps up on April 14 at PISE.

smcculloch@timescolonist.com

© Copyright 2013

Was fitness testing supposed to be all Star Warsy...or was that just me?

Feeling pretty chuffed to be getting fitness tested at PISE...in fact, I was feeling kinda like "ya, that's right...I have yoga pants on...I'm wearing sneakers...I bought a sports bra for the occasion...check me out, I'm all Simon Whitfieldy."  And then I realised that I hadn't been a participant in the Olympics...I had merely watched them on television...but to my credit, Simon Whitfield and I are practically best friends...I once said hello to him at the airport!

After fasting 12 hours the first thing that exercise physiologists Holly and Paula did was ask me to lie down for 30 minutes.  Awesomepants!  That I can do...I'm very good at resting.  Strapped a heart rate monitor around my chest and got comfy on the mat.  After 10 minutes, I was asked to put a snorkel in my mouth (okay, it wasn't a snorkel, it was a mouthpiece attached to a tube attached to a huge machine that analysed my breathing), had a clothes peg put on my nose (again, probably something more scientificy), and told to "relax" and breath normally.  Easier said than done, after just a few minutes I had the worst case of dry mouth EVER.  I persevered, and eventually will find out my resting metabolic rate...or in layman's terms:  how many calories my body expends by doing absolutely nothing.  From this, we'll be able to calculate the number of calories I need to simply exist...and how many I should consume for weight loss.  Part one complete...easy peasy lemon squeezey.

My nemesis.

Part two begins...difficult difficult lemon difficult.  It's one thing to accept your body - I get it, I'm fat...but it is another thing entirely to have someone draw Xs on your body where they're going to grab the flab with a calliper and measure it, before going back in and measuring various circumferences with a tape measure.  Good thing I don't feel sorry for myself (okay, maybe I did, but just a smidge), or I would have gotten all up inside my head about it.  I had measurements taken on skin that hadn't seen the light of day since Spring Break 1992.  I suppose it's a good thing to know your body composition....but no one wants to find out that the majority of their configuration is fat...unless you are bacon...mmmm bacon.

Padawan me suited up for the bacta tank.

And now the Star Warsy part...after being pinched and prodded, I was introduced to my nemesis:  the treadmill.  *Insert diabolical laughter here*  We meet again.  This time, application of the scuba gear involved a halo (there's a first time for everything) to hold the mouthpiece in place.  And I was told to walk forward.  I can do that.  

As I walked, the treadmill would be increased to different levels of intensity - 5 levels in total.  I am of course terrified of this, but luckily the intervals are only 3 minutes long.  Having said that, I had no idea how long just 3 minutes actually was...until I had to exercise for 3 WHOLE minutes.  Ha!  You start out easy and then it gets harder...they didn't make me run or anything impossible like that, it was a mosey to a stroll to a romp to jaunt to a "let me just walk super fast up this hill to get away from that hungry looking wampa."  It felt a little Luke Skywalkery, you know, being hooked up to tubes like when he was in the bacta tank in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK...without the Jedi part...or the water...or being on Hoth.  So really, nothing like Star Wars actually...except for the tubes.  Oh, who cares...when do I get my tauntaun?

Aerobic Testing complete.

Do these lashes make my ass look smaller?

I got up at 5:45 this morning.  Why would anyone in their right mind get up that early on a Sunday?

Well, for one thing it was the first day of the rest of my life...or at least it was the first day of the Times Colonist Health Challenge - a meet and greet held at the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence's open house...so I had to look my best.  As I haven't really worn make-up that much over the past 2 months, I needed to make sure I still remembered how to apply it!  As it turns out, I remembered.  However, I may have overdone it in the lash department.

Got to the facility, ditched my dear husband Stéphane on the first level of the complex and got escorted downstairs.  Hooked up with Shannon the Times Colonist rep first, then Bruce the photog (whom I hope enjoyed my attempt at finding the light and working my angles...har har), then Jonathan and Michelle of MIJO Sport found me.  How did they know who I was?  My reputation obviously precedes me.  Oh no...wait...the wheels are beginning to turn here...I sent the TC pictures with my application.  They must have seen those!   Lemme just deflate that big ol' head of mine a bit...and the rest of me for that matter.  That is exactly what Jonathan has been brought in to do...shrink me.  Hello, he's my personal trainer. 

MAC says:  "Natural and dramatic"

Following quick chat with Josh, my contact guy from the Crystal Pool and Fitness Centre, I was introduced to our group of 5 + 1:  Raechel, Elizabeth, Nathan, Steve and Sandra..who will be writing about all of our trials and tribulations in the TC and participating in the challenge as well!  Yay team!  All of us are very different, yet we share the same goal....get healthy!  We had our individual pictures taken and then some group shots...seriously, should have rethought the length of my false eyelashes...I think they were casting shadows over my face...or was that Nathan?  I look like a hobbit next to him, he's 6'6" and I'm 5'2".

We toured PISE and met up with our physiologists in the Canadian Sport Institute Victoria's lab...Paula and Holly gave us an orientation to each of the tests and measurements that we would be subjected to in the next week...I especially like the sound of the 30 minute rest period to determine resting metabolic rate, not so sure of the 5 stage aerobic test on the treadmill.  Ha!

Van City has also graciously offered to help us with our financial health as part of this challenge...and give us calculators and lunch bags and granola bars...thanks!  Being a MAC girl I gravitated towards one of the financial advisors in particular.  Heather's fuschia lip colour drew me in instantly, and in speaking with her I learned her dad flew Supermarine Spitfires in WWII.  It was meant to be.  We're meeting sometime next week.

And that, was that.  How did I manage to escape exercise the entire time I was there???  Super tricky dicky.  Haha...no...wait, I did walk up and down some stairs at the institute...I wasn't about to use an elevator...what would people think?

Next step is the fitness test on Tuesday.  Wish me luck!

The Last Supper

Fried alligator po'boy.

'Twas the night before PISE and all through the place...Suzie was anxiously stuffing her face.

I don't know what you do the night before a celebration of good health and fitness (the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence Open House)...but I, apparently, indulge in a cornucopia of the unhealthy!  A plethora of fried, alcoholic, and sugary goodies...it was my Last Supper after all. 

Here are some things you should know:  the Last Supper is almost always fast food...not particularly delicious, not particularly special, but always high in calories, low in nutrients, and generally beige in colour.  

My last supper was a giant burger, large order of French fries, and a diet soda...I'm sure that made a huge difference.  Having polished off the soda, wine then began to flow.  Wine, I love you.  Wine and I get along famously.  I also managed to scarf down a big-ass piece of strawberry rhubarb pie.  During such a ceremonious feast, it is not important that you actually care for the food...I don't really have a sweet tooth, but it was important for me to represent all the vices, lest one get jealous.  ;-)

I suppose the whole ritual was a farewell to the food I won't be able to eat going forward.  But the thing is...it wasn't all that awesome in the end.  I ate it super fast in front of the telly and immediately felt bloated, tired, stuffed, and got a wicked case of heartburn.  Fast food 1, Suzie 0.

Dear Junk Food,

It's not you, it's me. 

You used to make me feel so amazing when I was with you, but I have finally realized that we aren't that good together.  I can't control myself around you, and you do terrible things to me.  My friends and family kept telling me to leave you, and I've tried many times...but you're the one abusive lover to whom I would always go back...but not this time.  This time we have to break up, once and for all.  I will always remember the times we had together fondly :-) 

Love,

Your ex-girlfriend Suzie